Gryff didn’t want to admit he was freaked out, but he was fucking freaked out. Just a little bit. Okay, maybe more than that.

As he paced his brother’s kitchen, Grae frowned at him, his arms folded across his chest and his ankles crossed as he leaned back against the counter. “Seriously, you need to calm down.”

He knew he needed to listen to his brother, but he was unraveling. And for good reason. “I’m scared.” Gryff didn’t miss the answering raise of eyebrows.

“About what?”

“A situation.”

“Situation,” Grae repeated, shaking his head and chuckling. “You mean a relationship?”

“You laugh, but this type of stuff is easy for you.”

His older brother suddenly got serious. “Easy? What part of any relationship is easy?”

“It’s easy for you because you’ve done this before—which I didn’t know until our lovely sister let it slip—and you’re doing it again. So, you must like it.”

Grae shook his head, clearly confused. Gryff wasn’t surprised his brother was confused because he was, too.

“First of all, Gryff, this is nothing like the last time. The last time was a disaster. And second, a relationship with one person is hard enough. Try two. Luckily for the most part, Connor is easy-going. Paige? Well, Paige is Paige. Enough said. And how is your situation even similar to mine?”

“But you love them.”

Grae hesitated. “Yes. But we’re not talking about love here, right? Or am I missing something?”

Gryff shook his head and began to pace again, his fingers interlocked behind his neck.

“Brother, talk to me,” Grae encouraged, his tone a little softer.

“No. Not love. I mean… Rayne… She’s so fucking… I don’t know… Irresistible. From the moment I met her, the second she sat across from me in her interview. Hell, the morning of her first day at the firm. And definitely the first time she burst into my office calling me Boss.” Gryff blew out a breath at the memory.

“Boss?”

“Yeah, she calls me that all the time.” Gryff added quickly, “I don’t like it.”

“So, tell her to stop.”

“I did.”

“And?”

He shrugged as he paced past Grae for the umpteenth time. “Like Paige, Rayne is Rayne. And she likes to call me that.”

“And you think you don’t like it because you shouldn’t, but you actually do.”

“Fuck.” Gryff stopped dead in his tracks and reluctantly admitted, “It turns me on.”

Silence greeted him and he spun on his heels to face Grae. Finally, his brother said, “Ah.”

Ah? Yeah, fuck, like that helped a whole lot.

“But there’s nothing between you two besides just wanting to pump her full of your cum, right?”

Gryff’s jaw hit the floor. He collected it and slapped it back into place. “What the hell happened to my uptight brother?”

“Paige happened. And you should talk, you’re not Mr. Flexible either.”

Gryff frowned. “Not anymore.” But his brother was right.

“You can’t let your past mistakes control your future,” Grae told him.

Okay, fine, but… “Can we get back to the subject at hand?”

“You banging one of your associates?” Grae asked with a twitch of his lips.

“That’s not the problem.” Gryff’s frown deepened. “Well, that’s a slight problem. But not like the other one.”

“Other one?” Grae asked, his eyebrows knitted together.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, what’s really bothering you?”

Gryff groaned and rubbed his palms over his face then scrubbed a hand over his short hair before stopping directly in front of his brother and facing him. He opened his mouth but nothing came out.

“Spill it.”

“I had a threesome the other night.”

Grae’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “What?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. And what’s the problem?”

“It wasn’t two women.”

“Yes, I’m starting to figure out why you’re being such a pansy and not getting to the point.”

“We didn’t have sex… Well…” Trey giving him head probably counted as sex. “Well, not… Fuck.”

Grae stared at the ceiling for a second, then his gaze dropped to the floor. “I’m not sure if I want to have this conversation with my younger brother,” he muttered, clearly avoiding Gryff’s eyes.

“That makes two of us, but I don’t have anyone else to talk to about it.”

Finally, Grae leveled his gaze at him. “And you’re questioning the whole thing. Why?”

It was Gryff’s turn to look away when he asked, “What if I like it?”

“Like what?”

“Being with another… man.”

Grae laughed, whacking Gryff on the back and handing him the gin and tonic that sat untouched on the counter. “So what if you do?”

Gryff waved it away. His brother had a penchant for that nasty drink. He didn’t. “Does that mean I’m gay?”

Grae stared at his brother for a moment, his face suddenly blank. Then he took a long sip of the drink before asking, “Am I gay?”

Gryff paused and frowned. “Fuck. I don’t know. Are you?”

Grae shook his head. “I’m bisexual. But I don’t give a damn what you call me. They’re only words. I know how I feel about Paige. About Connor. I know how they feel about me. That’s all that matters. Other people’s opinions don’t. Remember that.”

“While that all sounds great, I head a law practice.”

“And?”

“I have a reputation to uphold.”

Grae’s laughter filled the room. “Get over yourself.”

He looked at his brother in surprise. “Like you did?”

“Yes, like me. Being with Paige and Connor is the best thing that ever happened to me. So, yes, I got over myself. And, little brother, you are the last person who should judge anyone.”

“Thanks for the reminder.”

“Somebody has to remind you to stay humble.”

“Right. I already have a reminder of when I stopped chasing that dragon. It’s over my shoulders, remember? I see that reminder every day in the mirror.”

“Did they ask you about it?”

“No.”

“Are you going to tell them?”

“No reason to at this point. We hooked up, that’s all.”

Grae cocked an eyebrow. “Right. So, you don’t plan on seeing the guy again? Exploring your sexuality?”

“I have no choice but to see him.” All thanks to Grae for dropping Trey directly in his path.

Grae’s eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head. “Why’s that?”

Gryff closed his eyes, embarrassed to admit who it was to his brother. “It’s Trey Holloway.”

He could have heard a pin drop. The silence became deafening until Gryff finally murmured, “Shit.”

He opened his eyes and pinned Grae with a stare. “This is your fault.”

“My fault? I asked you to represent him. Not fuck him.”

Gryff sucked in a breath. “I didn’t fuck him.”

“Yet. Believe me, I know Trey. I know how he can charm the pants off any man or woman. I’m surprised you fell for it.”

“I didn’t fall for anything.”

Grae shot him a look. “Did you get naked? Did she get naked? Did he get naked? Enough said.” He pushed himself off the counter. “No, not enough said. How the hell did he get you to even agree with it? Where were you?”

“His apartment.”

“His apartment. That penthouse he calls an apartment? So, he was slick enough to talk you over to his place.”

Heat rushed into Gryff’s face. Yeah, he may be dark and the blush not so apparent but his brother being just as dark, recognized embarrassment when he saw it. Fuck.

“You know, I don’t have a problem with you exploring your wild side, because I’m sure you won’t let it get out of hand like last time, but, brother, it’s who you chose to do it with that worries me. Now I know why you mentioned being concerned about your reputation. Normally nobody would care who your bed partner or partners were since you’re the best damned defense attorney out there. But now you’re talking a player—and when I say player, I don’t mean one who carries a ball, I mean player—who is front and center. And not just from football, from this latest arrest, too.”

“So, what do I do?”

“Have your fun. Explore. Keep your mind open. And don’t lie to yourself about it, either. See if it’s what you want or need and then find it elsewhere. Kick his ass to the curb so he can go crawl up someone else’s. Look, he’s a great player. He’s great for the Bulldogs. But I don’t want to sit across from him at Thanksgiving. I don’t. He can be trouble and you don’t need trouble. He’s not someone you bring home to Mom and Dad.”

“I’m not interested in anything long term, anyway.”

“Good. But what about this new attorney of yours? Rayne, is it? Even though you like her, she’s still an employee.”

“Unless I make her a partner.”

Grae arched a brow. “You’ve never made anyone partner.”

“She’s good.”

“As an attorney or in bed? Don’t let your muddled mind mess with you. Great sex will do that.”

“She’s a brilliant defense attorney. She may be better than me.”

“Damn,” Grae whispered.

“Because of that, I put her on Holloway’s case. That’s where this all got jacked.”

“No, you allowed it to get jacked. They’re your employee, your client. I’m sure the two of them would have been fine hooking up without you getting involved.”

Something rushed through him that he didn’t like. And it sure felt like a little bit of jealousy with a tinge of loss of control. He shouldn’t let his emotions control him. He was better than that. He had to do better than that.

Right.

“Your silence is telling, Gryff. You’re trying to control your expression, but you can’t. I know you well enough to recognize your jealousy.” Grae shook your head. “You really are jacked. Let me show you why. Answer the following questions…”

Gryff frowned. Great. He wanted advice, not a damn lecture like Grae was his father.

“You want this woman?”

“Yes.”

“She wants you?”

“Yes.”

“She wants Trey?”

“Yes.”

“Trey wants you?”

“Yes.”

“Trey wants Rayne?”

“Yes.”

“You want Trey?”

Gryff hesitated.

“Think long and hard on that. Be honest with yourself.”

“Fuck.”

Grae’s lips curled and his eyes crinkled at the corners. “That’s what I thought. So, do what you have to do. Trey won’t mind you using him to figure it out. He’s got no hang-ups. I don’t know Rayne, so I can’t speak for her. Have fun. Then make sure you scrape him off afterward. I’ll repeat; no holiday gatherings. I don’t want to see him eating Mom’s homemade sweet potato pie across from me. I swear, brother, don’t mess that up.”

Gryff sucked in a breath and nodded.

“By the way, you need to find someone else in the firm to represent him.”

Gryff closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. “If I do this.”

“If you do it,” Grae repeated with a knowing grin.

“I already handed him off to Rayne. But now we’ll have to find another associate to take the lead.”

“The two of you can be advisors, because, believe me, we need to get this cleared up as soon as possible. Right now he can’t even attend practices. Do your best to get the charges dropped. Convince the ADA that this was all a mistake.”

“A mistake.”

“Yes. You know all about mistakes—”

“What the fuck—”

Luckily, Paige wandered in before things got heated, because he didn’t need Grae to keep bringing up his past transgressions. He knew his brother was trying to make a point… Which was to not make a mistake with Trey. But, really, there was no need to keep rubbing his nose in it. At this point in his life, he was way beyond making youthful mistakes.

Paige gave both of them a big smile and plastered herself to Grae’s side, but not before standing on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his brother’s lips.

Gryff couldn’t help but notice the way Grae’s eyes softened when he looked at her. And his hand automatically slid to her hip, to hold her tight against him.

Her eyes bounced from Gryff to Grae and back. “Damn, I’ve said it before... Looking at the two of you is like looking at twins.”

Grae shot her a scowl. “And like I told you before... Don’t get any ideas.”

She patted his stomach and laughed. “Don’t worry, honey. Between you and Connor, I’m plenty busy. I don’t need to add to my man sandwich.” She pinned Gryff with a look. “So, what’s the big discussion about?”

“Gryff’s about to get fucked,” his brother volunteered.

Gryff groaned.